Against the Sun (2014)

A WWII pilot, bombardier, and radioman find themselves adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after being forced to ditch their plane during a scouting mission.

Director:

Brian Falk

Writers:

Brian Falk, Mark David Keegan

Stars:

Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel

Cast

Cast overview:
Garret Dillahunt	...	Harold Dixon
Tom Felton	...	Tony Pastula
Jake Abel	...	Gene Aldrich
Nadia Parra	...	Frances Pastula
Quinton Flynn	...	Newsreel Narrator

Storyline

In one of the most harrowing true stories of World War II, three US Navy airmen crash land their torpedo bomber in the South Pacific and find themselves on a tiny life raft, surrounded by open ocean. No food. No water. No hope of rescue. Against incredible odds, these three virtual strangers must survive storms, sharks, starvation - and each other - as they try to sail more than a thousand miles to safety.

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Plot Keywords:

disaster at sea | survival | disaster film | survival film | south pacific | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic material involving peril and hardships, and for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 January 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ghosts of the Pacific

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Film Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in Playas De Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico. a Horizon Tank, in 1996 20th Century Fox acquired 40 acres of waterfront south of Playas De Rosarito, and built a seventeen-million-gallon tank for the film Titanic, a Co-Production with Paramount Pictures. The tank held a replica of the ship, and provided 270 degrees of ocean view. Others Films that have used the Same Tank are. "All is Lost" (2012), "Little Boy" (2011), Titanic (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Weight of Water (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Ghosts of the Abyss (2003).

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Goofs

After 34 days at sea none of the men grow a beard or significant facial hair.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gene Aldrich: [over the radio] Chief, this is Aldrich. I'm losing her on the ARA.
Tony Pastula: [to himself] Come on, where are you goin'?
Gene Aldrich: [into radio] Chief, I've lost the beacon. Over. Are we close Chief?
Tony Pastula: I'll give him a tap, maybe his com is down.

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Soundtracks

Gallant Seventh
Written by John Philip Sousa

User Reviews

excellent story and production

Just came from seeing this movie at the WW2 museum in New Orleans at an advance screening I had the pleasure of attending. I met the producer/script writer Brian Falk. Very nice guy. I'll start my brief review by saying the movie was admittedly made on a low budget which limits things, but that being said, what they did do, they did well. The re-creation of the plane, a TBD-1 Devastator, was great. (No surviving plane exists anywhere.) As to the story and the production, the movie succeeds because it tells the tale of these 3 men and their journey on a raft in the Pacific Ocean. You see the interactions of three guys who basically did not know each other when the plane took off. Keep in mind in those days, officers, as pilots almost always were, and enlisted crew members did not associate on the carriers much if at all. That dynamic plays out to a certain degree in the film. The elements you'd think would come though in a film such as this, are played well: despair, survival, hunger, thirst, hope, fear, and blame... and many more. Theirs is story that needed to be told. I am glad it was.